ANGELUS REFLECTIONS ON TRIP TO EGYPT, VISIT TO MOUNT SINAI

VATICAN CITY, FEB 27, 2000 (VIS) - Before praying the angelus today, Pope John Paul greeted the thousands of faithful gathered below his study window in St. Peter's Square, and reflected on his just-completed pilgrimage to Egypt and what he called its "climax, ... the ascent to Mount Sinai."

He specifically thanked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian authorities, His Holiness Shenouda III, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Greek-Orthodox Archbishop Damianos and the monks of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, and Grand Sheikh Sayed Tantawi of Al-Azhar, head of the Muslim community in Egypt.

The Holy Father then underscored the important moments of his pilgrimage, which concluded Saturday evening with his return to Rome. He spoke of the Mass in Cairo's sports arena, attended by members of all of the Churches present in Egypt, and of the "meaningful ecumenical encounter" on Friday, saying "it pleases me to underline how profitable the dialogue with the Coptic Orthodox Church proved to be."

"The focal point of my trip," he affirmed, "was the ancient monastery of St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai. There, in a simple but moving ceremony, I was able to commemorate the moment in which God, speaking from the burning bush, revealed His name - 'I Am' - to Moses, as well as the moment when He gave the People the Covenant based on the Decalogue. In the Ten Commandments we see reflected the basic precepts of the natural law. The Ten Commandments indicate the path for a fully human life. Outside of them there is no future of serenity and peace for persons, families and nations."

After the Pope and the faithful prayed the angelus, John Paul II greeted "with affection the leaders and members of the Centesimus Annus-Pro Pontefice Foundation, which yesterday dedicated an intense day to the study of the complex question of the relationship between ethics and finance."

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